F 

6a 


PIRACY 

OFF   THE  FLORIDA   COAST 
AND   ELSEWHERE 


BY 

SAMUEL  A.  GREEN 


CAMBRIDGE 

JOHN    WILSON    AND    SON 

^Snibersitg  Press 
1911 


From  the 

Prockedings  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society 

FOR  February,  1911. 


»    .  .  .•  .••    •- 


•   <        »     ♦  • 
•        •    •»• 


•  •    « 


•i/**,"^  ,»....  *  • 


PIRACY    OFF  THE    FLORIDA  COAST 
AND   ELSEWHERE 

At  a  stated  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society,  held  in  Boston  on  Thursday,  February  9,  191 1, 
Dr.  Samuel  A.  Green  presented  the  following  paper:  — 

Few  persons  of  the  present  day  are  aware  how  extensively 
piracy  prevailed  two  centuries  ago.  There  was  no  part  of  the 
high  seas  that  was  free  from  the  depredation  of  roving  robbers. 
At  times  they  threatened  towns  on  the  coast,  and  at  others 
they  attacked  ships  on  mid-ocean;  and  they  seem  to  have  fol- 
lowed their  lawless  pursuits  at  will.  When  caught,  there  was 
little  delay  in  bringing  them  to  trial  and  securing  a  conviction: 
and  trivial  technicality  in  forms  played  no  part  in  reaching 
results.  At  times  there  were  multiple  executions,  and  in  the 
community  there  was  no  morbid  sentimentality  shown  for  the 
miserable  wretches.  Not  the  least  of  their  torture  was  sitting 
in  the  meeting-house  on  the  Sunday  before  execution  and  lis- 
tening to  their  own  funeral  sermons,  when  the  minister  told 
them  what  they  might  expect  in  the  next  world  if  they  got 
their  just  dues.  On  June  30,  1704,  six  poor  victims  were  hung, 
on  the  Boston  side  of  the  Charles  River  bank,  for  piracy  and 
murder;  and  there  was  a  great  crowd  to  witness  the  tragedy. 
Among  the  spectators  on  this  occasion  was  Chief -Justice  Sewall, 
one  of  the  judges  of  the  Admiralty  Court  which  had  convicted 
the  pirates,  who  did  not  think  it  beneath  his  dignity  to  be 
present.  It  was  then  considered  a  public  duty  to  invest  the 
scene  of  execution  with  as  much  awe  as  possible,  and  it  was 
thought  that  official  station  woujd  emphasize  this  feeling. 

The  following  extract  from  "The  Boston  News-Letter," 
August  21,  1 72 1,  shows  how  in  early  times  piratical  craft, 
heavily  manned  and  carrying  many  guns,  sailed  the  high  seas 


223149 


4 

and  pursued  their  unlawful  calling.     The  vessel  was  taken 
somewhere  in  the  Sargasso  Sea,  off  the  coast  of  Africa. 

These  are  to  Certifie  all  Persons  concerned  that  on  the  7th  Day 
of  May  last,  WilUam  Russel  Master  of  the  Ship  Mary  of  Charls- 
town,  in  his  Voyage  from  Madera  to  Surranam  in  the  Lat.  22  Deg. 
and  27  N.  and  Long.  25  and  27  W.  from  London  was  taken  by  a 
Pirate  Ship  upwards  of  50  Guns,  Commanded  by  Capt.  Roberts, 
about  300  Men,  who  robb'd  him  of  part  of  his  Cargo,  and  Forced 
away  from  him  two  of  his  Men,  against  his  and  their  own  consent, 
viz.  Thomas  Russel  born  in  Lexintown  near  Charlstown  and  the 
other  Thomas  Winchol  born  in  Portsmouth,  New-Hampshire  in 
New  England. 

I  have  been  led  to  make  these  introductory  remarks  on  ac- 
count of  a  manuscript  recently  given  to  the  Library  by  Mrs. 
William  B.  Rogers,  eldest  daughter  and  sole  surviving  child  of 
Mr.  James  Savage,  who  was  for  more  than  sixty  years  a  member 
of  this  Society  and  for  fourteen  years  its  President.  It  consists 
of  an  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  her  uncle  William  Savage 
to  her  father,  dated  at  Havana,  December  31,  1818,  giving  an 
account  of  the  capture  by  pirates  of  the  ship  Emma  Sophia,  off 
the  Florida  coast,  of  which  vessel  he  was  supercargo.  Since 
the  receipt  of  the  paper  from  Mrs.  Rogers  I  have  found  in  the 
''Boston  Daily  Advertiser,"  February  3,  1819,  a  fuller  version 
of  the  letter;  and  for  that  reason  I  here  follow  the  copy  as 
given  in  the  newspaper.  Anything  that  relates  to  Mr.  Savage 
or  his  family  will  always  be  in  order  at  these  meetings.  At 
the  unveiling  of  his  bust  in  this  room,  on  April  12,  1906,  Mr. 
Adams,  the  President,  said  that  ''with  the  single  exception  of 
Mr.  Winthrop  no  member  of  the  Society  since  its  beginning 
has  left  upon  it  so  deep  and  individual  an  impression  "  as 
Mr.  Savage  has. 

The  account  appears  on  the  second  page  of  the  Advertiser, 
under  the  heading  of  "Marine  Journal,"  as  follows:  — 

MEMORANDA. 

l^"The  vessel  mentioned  in  yesterday's  paper,  as  having  been  plun- 
dered off  Florida,  is  the  Hamburgh  ship  Emma  Sophia^  Capt.  Frahm 
—  the  supercargo  is  Mr.  William  Savage,  of  this  town.  It  is  stated 
in  the  Charleston  papers  that  she  is  insured  at  Lloyd's. 


We  have  been  favoured  with  the  following  extract,  giving  further 
particulars: 

Extract  of  a  letter  from  a  gentleman  of  this  town,  supercargo  of  the 
ship  Emma  Sophia,  dated  Havana,  T,ist  Dec.  1818. 

On  Saturday  19th  inst.  between  the  Bahama  Bank  and  Key  Sal 
Bank  we  were  boarded  and  taken  possession  of  by  a  small  schr.  of 
about  30  tons,  having  one  gun  mounted  on  a  pivot  and  30  men.  She 
manned  us  with  twelve  men,  Spaniards,  French,  Germans  and 
Americans,  and  carried  us  towards  the  Florida  coast.  Being  arrived 
on  the  coast  nearly  opposite  to  Havana,  the  privateer  went  in  shore 
to  reconnoitre,  and  our  ship  lay  off  and  on.  Next  morning  she 
returned  with  two  small  vessels,  a  schooner  and  sloop.  We  then 
all  four  steered  over  the  reef  towards  the  small  islands,  and  on 
Tuesday  afternoon  were  brought  to  anchor  in  a  little  harbour 
formed  by  the  Florida  isles  and  the  Martyr's  Reef,  as  snug  a  hole  as 
buccaniers  would  wish.  They  had  seen  no  papers,  but  those  of  the 
ship  and  the  Manifest,  but  the  latter  was  enough,  and  they  asked 
not  for  invoices  or  bills  of  lading.  As  soon  as  we  anchored,  they 
threw  off  our  boats,  took  off  the  hatches  and  began  to  plunder  the 
cargo.  They  loaded  their  two  small  vessels  and  another  that  came 
in  next  morning,  besides  taking  our  valuables  on  board  the  privateer. 
Having  filled  their  vessels  with  linens  and  nankins,  we  had  still  many 
left,  for  our  ship  was  full  when  we  sailed  from  Hamburgh.  Till 
Wednesday  noon,  our  cabin  had  been  respected,  but  then  they  came 
below  and  took  packages  of  laces,  gold  watches  from  the  trunks 
and  other  valuable  goods.  Every  man  had  a  knife  about  a  foot  long, 
which  they  brandished,  swearing  they  would  have  money  or  some- 
thing more  valuable,  that  was  concealed,  or  they  would  kill  every 
soul  of  us,  and  they  particularly  threatened  me.  I  appealed  to  their 
captain,  told  him  I  was  in  fear  of  my  life,  and  went  with  him  on 
board  his  privateer.  He  said  he  had  no  command,  the  crew  would 
do  as  they  pleased,  that  I  need  entertain  no  fear  of  my  life,  but  had 
better  tell  at  once  if  any  thing  was  concealed.  I  told  him  there  was 
not.  After  my  return  to  the  ship  towards  night,  the  pirates  left  us 
for  the  first  time,  and  we  hoped  they  had  done  with  us.  But  next 
morning  another  sch'r  and  sloop  appeared  in  the  offing,  and  the 
privateer  and  one  of  the  loaded  sloops  went  out  to  meet  them. 
They  all  returned  together,  the  privateer  anchored,  and  a  boat's 
crew  came  towards  us.  I  attempted  to  go  on  board  the  privateer 
to  see  her  captain,  but  was  ordered  back.  When  they  came  on 
board,  they  said  they  had  come  to  find  where  the  gold  &c.  was, 
and  that  if  we  would  not  tell,  they  would  hang  every  man  of  us  and 
burn  the  ship.  Davis,  the  spokesman,  drew  his  knife  and  swore, 
that  every  man  should  die,  unless  he  found  the  money,  and  first  he 


would  hang  the  supercargo.  He  called  for  a  rope,  which  he  had 
brought  on  board,  fitted  with  a  hangman's  noose,  sent  a  man  up 
to  the  mizen  yard  and  rove  it  and  brought  the  nook  down  —  and 
one  man  held  it,  and  another  stood  ready  to  hoist.  Now,  said  Davis, 
tell  me  where  is  the  money,  where  are  your  diamonds,  or  I  will 
hang  you  this  minute.  In  vain  I  repeated  I  had  nothing  more  but 
my  watch,  which  I  offered  and  he  refused.  —  Once  more,  said  he, 
will  you  tell?  I  have  nothing  to  tell,  said  I.  On  with  the  rope, 
said  the  villain,  and  hoist  away.  The  fellow  with  the  noose  came 
towards  me,  and  I  sprang  overboard.  They  took  me  up,  after  some 
time,  apparently  insensible.  They  took  off  all  my  cloaths,  and  laid 
me  on  my  back  on  deck,  naked  as  I  was  born,  except  having  a  blanket 
thrown  over  me.  Here  I  laid  five  hours  without  moving  hand  or 
foot.  Meanwhile  they  robbed  us  of  every  thing  of  the  least  value. 
Against  me  they  seemed  to  have  a  particular  spite,  stealing  even  the 
ring  from  my  finger,  and  all  my  cloaths  from  my  trunks  which  they 
sent  on  board  the  privateer. 

At  night  they  left  us,  but  returned  once  or  twice,  for  a  few  minutes, 
to  see  how  I  was.  That  night  the  privateer,  with  two  or  three  of 
her  convoy  went  to  sea,  and  next  morning,  Christmas  day,  we  got 
under  way.  —  Having  taken  good  notice  of  the  courses  steered  in 
coming  in,  and  keeping  the  lead  constantly  going,  we  found  our 
way  out  to  blue  water  without  much  difficulty,  and  next  morning, 
26th,  arrived  without  further  accident  at  Havana. 

The  privateer  was,  I  think,  fitted  out  from  this  island.  The 
Captain  is  a  Spaniard,  a  short  man  with  a  remarkable  good  face,  that 
nobody  would  suspect  to  belong  to  such  a  gang.  The  Lieutenant  is 
a  Frenchman,  a  Creole  of  St.  Domingo,  but  called  himself  an  Italian. 
The  man  they  called  Davis,  who  ordered  me  to  be  hanged,  is  the 
pilot  or  sailing  master,  and  their  boarding  officer.  He  is  an  Ameri- 
can, belongs  to  New- York,  and  was  the  worst  man  on  board.  He 
is  a  good  looking  fellow,  something  perhaps  over  the  middle  size, 
but  the  most  brutal  rascal  I  ever  met.  There  was  another  American 
on  board,  only  a  common  hand,  being  a  drunkard.  —  Two  negroes 
are  all  the  residue  of  the  gentlemen  with  whom  I  had  much  ac- 
quaintance. 

The  goods  taken  from  us  were  upwards  of  fifty  thousand  dollars 
worth,  and  I  have  no  doubt  are  landed  on  the  coast  of  this  Island. 
The  neighborhood  of  Cuba  will  be  troubled  waters  until  our  govern- 
ment shall  seriously  determine  to  put  down  this  system  of  piracy. 

Akin  to  this  subject  it  may  be  proper  to  record  an  incident 
which  many  years  ago  concerned  myself,  and  might  have  been 
tragical  in  its  result.    In  the  month  of  February,  1854,  it  fell 


to  my  lot  to  sail  out  of  Boston  harbor  for  Malta,  aboard  the 
bark  Sylph,  of  Liverpool,  Nova  Scotia.  At  that  period  vessels 
saihng  under  the  English  flag  were  known  in  this  country  as 
lime-juicers,  so  called  because  in  the  British  navy  the  consump- 
tion of  lime  or  lemon  juice  was  enforced  as  an  anti-scorbutic 
remedy.  The  only  other  passenger  beside  myself  was  Gen. 
Wilham  A.  Aiken,  now  of  Norwich,  Connecticut.  The  vessel 
was  in  command  of  Captain  Roberts,  of  Liverpool;  and  the 
first  officer  was  Mr.  Hicks,  and  the  second  officer,  Mr.  Wharton. 
According  to  my  recollection  there  were  eight  in  the  forecastle, 
which  number,  together  with  the  cook  and  steward,  made  up 
a  complement  of  fourteen  persons,  all  told,  aboard  the  bark. 
The  cook  and  steward  were  represented  by  a  single  person  of 
African  descent,  who  prided  himself  both  on  his  hair  and  his 
cooking,  as  well  as  on  his  brotherly  kinship  to  the  self-styled 
rival  of  Jenny  Lind,  who  was  then  called  the  "  Black  Swan  " 
(Ehzabeth  Taylor  Greenfield),  a  singer,  well-known  in  her  day. 
His  hair  deserves  a  word  of  special  note,  as  it  was  sometimes 
closely  associated  with  his  cooking,  inasmuch  as  its  elaborate 
dressing  was  done  before  a  glass  hanging  just  beside  a  stove 
in  the  cook's  galley.  He  generally  kept  his  long  wool  tightly 
furled  in  numerous  curling  papers  that  stood  out  from  his  head 
like  spikes.  On  great  occasions,  such  as  Sundays  and  wonderful 
deliverances  from  storms,  he  used  to  unfurl  his  kinky  locks 
which  seemed  ample  enough  then  to  fill  a  bushel  basket. 

After  a  delay  of  a  week  or  ten  days  in  the  harbor,  owing  to 
head  winds  or  inclement  weather  we  set  sail;  and  I  remember 
well  that  the  pilot.  Fowler  by  name,  as  he  was  about  to  leave 
the  vessel,  throwing  his  leg  over  the  bulwarks,  said  in  his 
gruff  voice  to  our  skipper,  "I  will  give  you  twenty-eight  days 
to  the  Straits." 

There  is  Httle  to  write  about  the  trip  on  the  Atlantic  side  of 
the  voyage  more  than  it  was  very  monotonous,  so  much  so  that 
both  Aiken  and  myself  for  some  slight  relief  used  occasionally 
to  help  the  captain  ''take  the  sun"  at  noon,  and  in  this  way  we 
both  became  more  or  less  expert  in  navigation.  It  was  also 
interesting  to  watch  the  sailors  in  their  various  duties  and 
pleasures;  and  from  them  we  learned  to  splice  ropes  and  to 
tie  fancy  knots.  We  learned,  too,  the  words  of  command  in 
proper  sequence,  as  given  by  the  captain,  when  he  ordered 


8 

the  men  to  tack  ship  or  to  wear  ship,  all  which  was  of  great 
interest  to  us.  Occasionally  in  good  weather  we  used  to  take 
our  trick  at  the  wheel  in  order  to  break  the  monotony  of  the 
voyage.  Sometimes  we  would  catch  a  porpoise,  of  which 
the  liver  would  give  us  a  taste  of  fresh  meat  and  remind  us  of 
home.  Off  Cape  Trafalgar  we  sailed  over  the  waters  which 
floated  the  English  fleet  when  Nelson  fought  his  famous  fight. 
I  recollect  the  first  glimpse  we  had  of  Cape  Spartel,  a  point 
of  land  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  African  continent, 
overlooking  the  Straits,  which  we  made  early  in  the  morning  of 
March  i6,  my  birthday.  With  a  head- wind  it  took  two  days 
to  beat  into  the  Mediterranean,  where  we  had  many  calms 
and  much  bad  weather.  At  one  time  we  came  near  being 
wrecked  in  a  gale  off  Cape  de  Gato  on  the  southern  coast  of 
Spain,  but  generally  we  were  cruising  along  the  north  coast 
of  Africa,  within  a  few  leagues  of  land,  as  our  sailing  course 
was  dependent  upon  the  wind.  At  times  we  could  see  build- 
ings and  villages  on  the  shore,  and  then  would  sink  them 
behind  as  we  sailed  away. 

The  incident  to  which  I  have  already  alluded,  occurred  in  the 
latter  part  of  March,  off  Cape  Tres  Forcas  on  the  Barbary 
Coast.  One  afternoon,  as  we  were  sailing  along  at  low  speed 
with  little  wind,  two  or  three  leagues  from  land,  we  spied 
two  lateen-rigged  feluccas,  apparently  following  us,  which  at 
first  sight  attracted  but  little  attention.  Captain  Roberts  soon 
became  suspicious  of  their  movements  and  watched  them 
closely,  as  they  were  gaining  on  us.  We  were  going  hardly  more 
than  two  or  three  knots  an  hour,  having  little  more  than  steer- 
ing way,  but  they  spreading  much  sail  were  faster.  The 
captain  soon  gave  orders  to  have  an  inventory  taken  of  the 
firearms  on  board  that  could  be  used  in  case  of  need,  but 
these  were  found  to  be  few  in  number  and  in  poor  condition. 
The  cook  was  ordered  to  heat  as  much  boiling  water  as  his 
small  galley  would  allow,  to  be  ready  to  repel  any  attempt  to 
board  the  vessel.  There  was  great  excitement  on  the  bark, 
and  we  fully  expected  to  be  attacked,  but  fortunately  for  us 

The  shades  of  night  were  falling  fast, 

and  soon  the  sun  went  down.  We  then  changed  our  course  a 
point  or  two  and  threw  a  sail  over,  the  binnacle  light  so  that  the 


suspected  pirates  could  not  follow  us ;    and  thus  we  escaped 
w^hat  might  have  been  a  tragedy. 

After  our  arrival  at  Malta  we  learned  that  three  vessels  had 
been  taken  by  the  Riff  pirates,  as  they  were  called,  near  the 
time  when  we  were  threatened,  and  near  the  same  point  of  land. 
Without  doubt  the  captors  belonged  to  the  same  crew  as  those 
that  followed  us.  We  were  on  the  Mediterranean  Sea  at  the 
time  when  the  Crimean  War  broke  out,  England  having  de- 
clared war  on  March  28.  This  new  condition  of  public  affairs 
caused  great  confusion  in  the  movement  of  steamers  and  in 
transportation  generally,  as  steamships  were  much  needed  for 
military  purposes;  on  which  account  my  stay  at  Malta  was 
somewhat  prolonged.  During  this  time  I  saw  a  good  deal  of 
the  American  consul,  Mr.  William  Winthrop,  who  was  a  kins- 
man of  our  former  President,  Mr.  Winthrop,  and  at  a  later 
period  a  Corresponding  Member  of  this  Society.  At  the  regular 
monthly  meeting  held  on  November  8,  1882,  Mr.  Robert  C. 
Winthrop,  Jr.,  paid  a  handsome  tribute  to  the  consul,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  Society's  receiving  a  liberal  bequest  from  him. 
He  ended  his  remarks  by  saying  of  him:  ''He  took  a  pride, 
however,  in  being  a  Corresponding  Member,  —  the  only  one 
in  nearly  a  century  who,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  ever  left  the 
Society  a  dollar,  and  I  much  fear  that,  in  this  respect,  he  is 
likely  long  to  remain  unique." 


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